THUNDER BAY — Neither Lakehead Public Schools nor the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board will be joining a $4-billion class-action lawsuit filed by four southern Ontario school boards against major social media companies.
The Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Peel District School Board, and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board filed the suit against Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Snap Inc., the owner of Snapchat, and ByteDance Ltd., the company that owns TikTok.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Lakehead Public Schools acknowledged the lawsuit and the issues social media use is causing in schools but said it doesn’t make financial sense to take the matter to court at this time. The lawsuit says social media use is putting massive strains on the school boards’ finite resources, adding to the cost of mental health programming and personnel, increased IT costs, and additional administrative resources.They also want the companies to redesign their products to keep students safe.